The importance of effective management of the country's water resources was highlighted at a seminar organised jointly by the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) and Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC) at the Kahramaa Awareness Park on Monday.
In his presentation on "Smart Urban Water Management", Hamish R Mackey, faculty at the Sustainable Development College of Science and Engineering at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University said the introduction of new stepped up water tariffs in 2015 in the place of prevailing flat tariffs helped reduce wastage of water at different levels and there was a fall in consumption in many households.
The speaker stressed all user groups showed a reduction in their median water use in the post-tariff implementation phase. "Consumers who otherwise used more water responded positively to the revised tariffs and there was a decline in the consumption at different levels, " said Mackey, while recalling the results of the survey carried out in 547 households of different types of customers. Samples were collected from rented flats, owned flats, rented villas and owned flats. It clearly shows, the quantum of water used depends on the prices at which it is available, said Mackey, while disclosing that consumers were not using more water of prices were more.
While highlighting that stepped up tariffs have had a positive impact on water reduction, the speaker said it is interesting that the revised rates had its impact even on the citizens who were not paying for water as they also seemed to have reduced its consumption, thanks to the increased level of awareness built in the wake of ongoing Tarsheed campaign.
